Earthquake of 3.2 magnitude creates panic in Palghar

A regular Sunday evening turned all panicky for people staying in Palghar district after they suddenly experienced tremors. At around 6.25pm, an earthquake of 3.2 Richter magnitude scale was reported to have hit the small town.

This earthquake lasted for about 7-8 seconds and mild in nature. However, it surely caused panic among locals who had not heard of a similar natural strike in the past as several messages on social media began to spread by 8 pm. "Never before have we experienced an earthquake in the past. There was no warning too about the same," said Brian Lobo, a local from Dahanu-Palghar.

Lobo, who is a social activist, began getting calls from local villagers, residents who had panicked by then. People from Dhanavri, Nagzari, Dapchari, Amboli and around 3-4 more villages called him, asking about the situation.

The villagers said that there was no loss of life or property, though some reported that small homes had minor cracks on wall post the tremor. The tremor was reportedly felt in 25-30 sq.kms area as the earth vibrated for few seconds. A senior IMD official said that any earthquake around 3 on the Richter scale is termed as slight and there is no need to panic.